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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2016 15:07:08 GMT
RSC: "Become an RSC Member or join our Shakespeare Circle or Patrons schemes and help fund our work both on and off the stage." And they give you all the promised benefits. So I hope the RSC just politely reminds "xanderl" that he or she is under no obligation to renew their membership when it expires.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2016 15:33:24 GMT
I wouldn't post anything that wasn't above board, Monkey! To make matters worse for xanderl, the RSC has just tweeted 'just over a week left of priority booking' ! Second stroppy tweet sent |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2016 18:30:52 GMT
No response to my stroppy mail or tweets yet  They tweeted again today ... |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2016 18:42:57 GMT
Firstly I think the RSC are a cheapskate organisation
Secondly their box office are beneath stupid
However full members booking opened 1/2
This "exclusive" Telegraph booking comes WELL after that booking opportunity
Therefore I don't see that members are hard done by
It's a bit like the NT allowing American Express members to book before the general public but after most decent levels of supporters have had opportunity to do so
The main issue to me is the large number of weeks between members and then general public booking opening for the RSC
Almost as long as the Bend It Like Beckham previews
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2016 18:45:41 GMT
Firstly I think the RSC are a cheapskate organisation Secondly their box office are beneath stupid However full members booking opened 1/2 This "exclusive" Telegraph booking comes WELL after that booking opportunity And another booking opening 15/2 Therefore I don't see that members are hard done by It's a bit like the NT allowing American Express members to book before the general public but after most decent levels of supporters have had opportunity to do so The main issue to me is the large number of weeks between members and then general public booking opening for the RSC Almost as long as the Bend It Like Beckham previews
The point remains that whatever level of member you may be the level of tickets you had potential access to is always higher than this Telegraph "exclusive"
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 11:21:59 GMT
Heard back from them. To paraphrase - "yeah whatever, deal with it, the Torygraph gave us lots of money"
Oh well, in the words of the immortal Bard, f*** em.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 11:31:45 GMT
Heard back from them. To paraphrase - "yeah whatever, deal with it, the Torygraph gave us lots of money" Oh well, in the words of the immortal Bard, f*** em. I don't really understand your issue. You had your expected priority booking as a member. If you had delayed booking until this later Daily Telegraph priority booking period, you would have had access to reduced availability. If you don't renew as a member, there may be no repeat of this Daily Telegraph deal in future, and so you would lose all priority booking, which seems to be your only motivation for membership. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 13:02:27 GMT
I think xanderl's gripe is legitimate. The only reason I invest in membership with any theatre is the priority booking. I'm not interested in, say, 20% off in the shop or 10% off in bars/restaurants because I don't use those services.
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Post by Snciole on Feb 23, 2016 13:53:58 GMT
I think xanderl's gripe is legitimate. The only reason I invest in membership with any theatre is the priority booking. I'm not interested in, say, 20% off in the shop or 10% off in bars/restaurants because I don't use those services. *signs Jean up to the Sneaky Tin of Gin club*  |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 16:39:10 GMT
I know that when you decide to become a friend or a member of a theatre, the vaaaaast majority of people choose to do so because of the perks available to friends or members. But you're not buying the perks, you're making a donation which happens to result in perks. If an alteration is made to the perks that isn't to your liking and you decide not to renew your friend- or membership as a result, then I'd argue there's a possibility you've sorta missed the point of friendship.  |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 16:47:19 GMT
I know that when you decide to become a friend or a member of a theatre, the vaaaaast majority of people choose to do so because of the perks available to friends or members. But you're not buying the perks, you're making a donation which happens to result in perks. If an alteration is made to the perks that isn't to your liking and you decide not to renew your friend- or membership as a result, then I'd argue there's a possibility you've sorta missed the point of friendship. Yes! And, in this case, the RSC made absolutely no alteration to xanderl's perks. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 17:14:24 GMT
If an alteration is made to the perks that isn't to your liking and you decide not to renew your friend- or membership as a result, then I'd argue there's a possibility you've sorta missed the point of friendship. Or my "friend" has. To be honest if I had a friend who lived in a dull bit of the Midlands which was a pain in the nick to get to, insisted I bought him or her expensive things at the weekend then turned out to be telling fibs I'd find someone else to be friends with |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 21:14:59 GMT
I don't know though, if we're going to use the analogy that the RSC is an actual flesh-and-blood person friend, then the story is that they invited you to a dinner party, which you were happy to attend along with the few other elite invitees. You know that the host is having a big party a few weeks hence to which an awful lot of people are invited, but it doesn't really sound like your thing and you like the intimate atmosphere of the dinner party. So you had your dinner party, you know the big boring party is coming, but then you hear that your friend hosted ANOTHER dinner party before the big boring party! It's... HG is right, this hasn't affected you or your priority booking at all. It's sort of weird to be so offended that your friend in the Midlands is having a second dinner party tbh. (And, y'know, if you're going to a dinner party, you damn well take wine and/or flowers, that's what you DO when going to a dinner party. You're withdrawing your wine and flowers and refusing all invitations to future dinner parties and all because there was a later dinner party. Honestly, this is Come Dine With Me levels of drama here.  ) |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 23:01:45 GMT
Sorry, sticking to my guns here. If I wanted to simply donate to a theatre or arts organisation, I have opportunities to do that when booking tickets. (Depending on the theatre/museum/tourist site, I frequently do.)
By telling me that if I pay substantially more I'll be entitled to a booking period that people who haven't paid that money won't be able to access, I don't then expect them to offer seats to said other people within the booking period. I don't care if the booking period lasts three weeks and the other folk get to book within the last one of the three. Maybe I've been away on holiday and couldn't book til that same week. Why should they get so much as a sniff of better seats ahead of me having parted with my hard-earned cash?
Anyhoo, we can of course send a clear message by cancelling/not renewing membership in these situations. Given that so many organisations these days are chasing the holy grail of customer loyalty, you'd think places like the RSC woukdn't want to upset their supporters.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2016 7:44:42 GMT
Quite! I would stress this is not something that's keeping me awake at night and I was unlikely to renew my membership anyway due to the increasing unaffordability of tickets at weekends. It's the lack of transparency on this that I think is the problem. Difference with the National Theatre / Amex arrangement is that the National is very open about this on their website - www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/american-express-invitesComparison I'd make is with the situation with Hamlet tickets at the Barbican where it was revealed very late in the day that there was a big allocation of seats bookable through Sonia Friedman so people who'd joined or upgraded their membership for Hamlet had wasted their money. Complained about that one too, and got a partial refund of my membership fee. |
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Post by bordeaux on Feb 25, 2016 21:19:27 GMT
Am I correct in thinking that The Tempest is a family show with no reductions for children? Can't see how to get any when I try to book o the website.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2016 21:44:34 GMT
When you select a seat it should offer you the full rate and under 18s rate (half price) - but not for Saturday evening performances
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Post by ATK on Feb 26, 2016 13:03:07 GMT
Am I correct in thinking that The Tempest is a family show with no reductions for children? Can't see how to get any when I try to book o the website. According to the RSC box office staff yesterday, the rather under-publicised catch in the Telegraph early booking scheme is that it only allows full-price tickets to be purchased. So if you booked using the Telegraph code, you wouldn’t have seen any discounts. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2016 13:34:10 GMT
Interesting - if they'd told me that when I complained it would have mollified me!
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Post by ATK on Feb 26, 2016 16:57:15 GMT
The RSC, the NT and the Barbican all seem to hold back swathes of seats for public booking periods. I gave up my RSC membership several years ago, partially in silent protest to the marked decline in production quality (which I could probably date to Cicely Berry’s retirement therefrom, if pressed) but also to being offered worse seats for the same performance during priority booking periods than I found once full booking opened for productions at the Aldwych and the Barbican. When I have encountered the odd problem with online booking at the National during membership booking periods, the box office phone staff manage to have seats available that aren’t on the website. It’s all very frustrating.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2016 9:51:15 GMT
London season for 2016 announced www.rsc.org.uk/news/london-season-for-2016-announcedBARBICAN THEATRE The Alchemist (2 September – 1 October) directed by Polly Findlay, featuring Ken Nwosu, Mark Lockyer and Siobhán McSweeney Doctor Faustus (7 September – 1 October) directed by Maria Aberg with Sandy Grierson and Oliver Ryan sharing the roles of Faustus and Mephistophilis Cymbeline (31 October – 22 December) directed by Melly Still, with Gillian Bevan as the first woman to take on the role of Cymbeline for the RSC King Lear (10 November – 23 December) directed by Gregory Doran, with Antony Sher in the title role, David Troughton as Gloucester and Paapa Essiedu as Edmund THEATRE ROYAL HAYMARKET Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing (Love’s Labour’s Won) transfer from Chichester Festival Theatre. Christopher Luscombe directs one acting company in both shows from 9 December 2016 to 18 March 2017. Public booking for all this from 25th April: Member's booking from 21st April. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2016 9:52:35 GMT
What, no Hamlet? Well that's an irritating decision for audiences and not a very kind one for Paapa Essiedu, who I've heard nothing but great things about for this role.
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Post by loureviews on Apr 11, 2016 11:00:02 GMT
No Tempest.  |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2016 11:08:04 GMT
The Tempest will still be running in Stratford while this winter London season happens. If it's going to transfer, it wouldn't be until February at the earliest. Though if you definitely want to see it, it's probably sensible to book a trip to Stratford rather than hoping it'll be along in the spring.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2016 11:18:05 GMT
How much of a dispersal can it be though, don't many of the cast members (including Essiedu) cross over with Lear and Cymbeline?
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